Toyota Planning to Use Aluminum for Next-Gen Camry, Lexus RX

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Toyota will add aluminum body panels on two of its bestselling models as the automaker plans to exploit a joint venture with a metal manufacturer, according to Automotive News.

The redesigned 2016 Lexus RX will receive an aluminum hood and tailgate when it debuts next year; an all-new Camry (not the 2015 update) will have an aluminum hood in 2018. Toyota hasn’t confirmed the model news and hasn’t used aluminum body panels in any of its models, but it did say it was committed to the alloy “on future vehicles for hood, closures, and parts for lightweighting.” Toyota already uses aluminum in the Scion FR-S, the Japanese-market Prius, and several Lexus models, but the Camry and RX would represent significantly higher volumes.

Heavy aluminum use is old hat to luxury brands like Audi, Jaguar, and Land Rover, which use it to form entire structures. But widespread use is new to volume-heavy, mass-market models like Ford’s F-150 pickup, for which that automaker is just wrapping up plant retooling and readying repair shops with new tools. (The F-150 has previously incorporated aluminum hoods and other minor pieces.)

Significantly higher costs for aluminum and its more complex production and repair processes have compelled most automakers to mix varying grades of high-strength steel into their vehicle architectures, which strengthens and lightens the vehicle for less money. Most automakers already use the stuff for hatches, hoods, and the like, but if Ford’s larger venture into aluminum pans out, metal prices and curb weights could start falling more rapidly than ever.